How RFID Technology can Help To Optimize Laundry Service Management?  

The profitability of commercial and industrial laundry service providers depends on two key factors: operational efficiency and low labor costs." "Thanks to life cycle records, RFID systems can extend the service life of linens by 20-30%."

Introduction

Today's industrial laundries and commercial cleaners are eager to increase profitability by cutting costs and simplifying operations. To this end, they seek new ways to save time, energy and labor. Especially in mass operations, even if labor or linen replacement costs are slightly lower, it will have a significant impact on the bottom line. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology can help reduce costs and simplify operations to increase efficiency. Using RFID for laundry tracking will help save a lot of labor and change linen. Therefore, by leveraging the full advantages of the data generated by RFID technology, industrial laundry suppliers can significantly reduce their total operating costs (TCO).

In short, RFID technology has the following advantages:

• Better inventory control

• Reduce labor demand

• Optimized life cycle

• Accurate and timely billing

• Real-time traceability

• Improve customer satisfaction

Now I will describe the specific advantages of each industry and introduce some RFID product concepts that have been proven successful.

RFID Hospitality Laundry 

"Hotel room linen spends more than $1 billion in the hotel industry each year." "The ability to use RFID to track laundry items has greatly improved inventory management."

In the hospitality industry, companies that use commercial laundry services often encounter difficulties in asset management. Hotels, resorts and spas are faced with the task of tracking the large number of towels and sheets to be washed every day. Many resorts spend countless hours to count routes, which is not only time-consuming, but also high labor costs. However, this is still not helpful in preventing items from being lost or stolen, causing millions of dollars in losses to the industry every year.

To deal with unreliable inventory levels, hotels and resorts are forced to increase inventory levels, the amount of inventory required to meet the minimum daily customer demand. PAR inventory provides a buffer or safety stock to prevent unexpected peak usage or delivery delays. However, excessively high PAR levels can lead to large capital expenditures and underutilized inventory. The standard ticket for a resort is about 2.5 to 3; however, many people need to increase this number and carry the excess because they cannot trust their inventory system due to low inventory visibility. With a reliable inventory system, resorts and hotels can reduce PAR inventory, thereby significantly reducing costs.

The use of RFID for laundry tracking will help significantly save labor and linen replacement. These two areas alone can account for 75% of the total cost. Using RFID technology to track items during commercial laundry has greatly improved inventory management, reduced losses, and achieved real-time asset visibility. In addition, even in bulk bags, the RFID function can automatically identify and classify linen, clothing and other textiles, greatly improving the efficiency of the operation process.

RFID Healthcare Laundry 

"In the United States, approximately 250,000 patients are infected each year. About 32,400 of them die." "Using RFID to actively monitor high-risk areas is an effective way to improve the safety of patients and employees."

In hospitals and nursing homes the challenge of linen inventory management is compounded by concerns over infection. Healthcare organizations of all kinds are under enormous pressure to prevent and control infections, particularly as diseases can be easily spread by soiled linens. For example, infections among hospital patients are on the rise due to easily spread microorganisms, such as Clostridium Difficile (or C. Diff). The spread of this microorganism can be deadly when other medical complications already exist. 

Proper handling and cleaning of bed sheets and gowns is critical in the prevention of contagious infections. Many hospitals and other patient care facilities apply RFID tags to bed sheets and hospital gowns to track inventories, monitor usage, automate distribution and reduce item loss. RFID tags, which can be sewn onto linens, allow items to be easily counted and monitored as they are received and returned by the laundry. In addition, hospital personnel can use handheld scanners to find linens in waste bags or stored in cupboards, enabling them to detect inappropriate disposal and identify where losses are occurring. 

Labour can be further reduced by permanently installing passive RFID readers in key locations to track linen movement or monitor problem areas. These fixed readers capture data in real time without human intervention which leads to enhanced operational insight from the collected data. Using RFID to proactively monitor a high risk area is a proven way of increasing patient and staff safety. The RFID tags used for tracking must withstand the rigors of sanitizing linens and patient gowns to prevent infections. This implies that only the most durable RFID tags can be used.

RFID Uniform Servicing

“The enhanced visibility enabled by RFID also helps commercial laundries to improve storage efficiency and billing accuracy.”

“Some of the sturdier RFID tracking solutions will last for up to 200 laundry cycles.”

Any commercial laundry that has ever serviced a uniform supplier knows the difficulties involved in laundering and tracking each and every item in a large uniform order. For this reason, RFID is being used for uniform servicing as well, enabling accurate, item-level inventory control while keeping manual labour costs contained.

The ability to provide reliable inventory status updates delivers considerable benefit to uniform suppliers, helping to reduce shrink and optimize lifecycle management of garments. And considering the size of many uniform orders, the enhanced visibility enabled by RFID also helps commercial laundries to improve storage efficiency and billing accuracy for greater profitability.

Moreover, linen retirement tracking is improved as well with RFID. Some of the sturdier RFID tracking solutions will last for up to 200 laundry cycles, withstanding harsh conditions in commercial washing and drying. This allows more effective rag-out detection and linen replacement management, ensuring that linens are retired when they can no longer be used.

Proven RFID Solutions

“The TexSilicon tag makes valuable data about individual asset usage easily available, allowing laundry service providers to implement new business models for greater profitability.”

With the help of RFID technology, industrial laundries and commercial cleaners can reap the rewards of real-time asset traceability and inventory management to save time, cut costs and simplify operations. However, not all RFID solutions are equally suited to meet the demands of the commercial laundry industry. 

The latest addition to the product series, the TexSilicon Fabric Laundry Tag offers a durable design for cost-effective RFID tracking of individual laundry items. These soft, flexible and thin fabric tags deliver reliable performance in high-temperature, high pressure bulk laundry processes. Designed to withstand sterilizing heat and pressure, the TexSilicon RFID tag carries an IP68 rating for certified protection from water and chemicals common to commercial laundry and dry cleaning processes, proven to withstand up to 200 wash cycles. 

The TexSilicon tag makes valuable data about individual asset usage is easily available, allowing laundry providers to implement new business models for greater profitability. Additionally, the tag’s fabric and silica gel design enables personalized printing for company brand recognition. While some RFID tags require a close reading range, the TexSilicon tag can be read from up to three metres away, allowing bulk reading capability for quick and accurate data collection. For example, uniforms or linens can be scanned in bulk while in the laundry bag, allowing the item count to be confirmed when picked up or dropped off to reduce loss. This feature even enables laundries to charge by the individual item, rather than by the Dollars, for a more profitable business model and an improved return on investment.

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